Inspiration comes in many forms

Easy Crochet Slippers
The pattern was designed by Pip from  Meet Me At Mikes .  They are so easy to make, I've actually made two pair.  The pattern is clearly embedded in my head I hope to make more for friends.  Pippy Slippers pattern can be found here.

Lavendar Heart Pillow

As part of the Dala Horse Craftalong I purchased this pattern from Carina's Craft Blog and after having some fun with the embroidery pattern decided to make a lavender heart pillow.  This was an easy pattern to work with and could be modified to suit your own style.  The possibilities of what you can make with this design are endless.

Brilliant Bread
I found this great recipe for Brilliant Bread from Cath at Elastic Mom.  Again, another simple recipe and it tasted great.  What I liked most is that I could improvise and add whatever I had in the cupboard in the way of herbs and spices.  Or I could make a sweet version if I wanted.  Check out the recipe for yourself at Elastic Mom.

Mother Earth
Last but not least, I just have to give Mother Earth a round of applause for the beautiful day she presented today in Australia.  Ipicked these Freesias from my garden but only did it once the sun went down as they were all facing towards the sun in adoration.  They are now in the house and the perfume wafts throughout.  Picking these glorious flowers means more will pop up tomorrow and the next day and many more days to come.  Thanks Mother Earth and everyone else that has inspired me today.

Thrifty Cooking

Today has been all about thrifty cooking.  I never use a recipe for main course meals, I like to make it up as I go and with what's in the pantry.  Yet, I can't bake sweets or cakes to save myself without a recipe.
I will only do the grocery shopping once a week, mainly because I hate shopping for food and we try and live within a budget.  So I find I often have to 'make do'.

So this is what I did. I raided the pantry and fridge to see what's available, then I waited until I got some divine inspiration.  Once that happened this is what I came up with.

Vegetable & Meat Lasagne with Home Made Pasta 

First I made the pasta, and luckily I had enough eggs.  It takes three egg yolks and two eggs.

Then the messy bit, mixing the egg mixture with the flour.  Not going to show the mess I got into, but it worked out ok.


My recipe makes heaps of pasta and it can be frozen for next time, so no waste.  It's also so easy to cut and get it to fit the dish so much better than the pre-cooked stuff.  Yuk!  If you've never made your own pasta you should.  You will NEVER go back to the pre-cooked stuff.

 Picking herbs from the garden is a must, I didn't have any parsley, but that didn't stop me.  I used what I had; rosemary, curry plant ,thyme and lemon balm (mint) all chopped up and chucked into the meat sauce.

One of the layers is roast pumpkin with a sprinkle of ginger.  This is all the pumpkin I had, better than nothing!

Another layer is onion, chopped mushrooms and sour cream with nutmeg.  I could eat this on it's own.

Then the main part, the meat sauce.  I added lots of carrot, celery, onion, garam marsala, garlic and mince meat to this pot.  If you want a meatless dish, just leave out the meat.  Once the meat was cooked, I put the other bits and pieces in with a tin of diced tomatoes and tomato puree.  I just used enough to give a rich but not too runny texture.

I made the cheese sauce, using margarine, flour, milk, garlic, garam masala and cheese.  Once I had everything cooked and cooled, I assembled the lasagne with meat sauce, pasta sheets, cheese sauce, pumpkin and mushroom, more pasta and repeated until it was all gone.  Sprinkle the top with more cheese.

Pop it into the oven, keep an eye on it until the top has browned and Bob's your uncle.  All done.  

The longest part was resting the pasta dough in the fridge for three hours before rolling it out and then putting the layers together.  As we all know, this dish will be even better tomorrow evening but tonight is the night.